Thinking About the Future
As if the ABOUT page wasn’t long enough, I shall give a thorough backstory to make you guys understand why I actually made this blog in the first place.
Currently, I’m a senior high school student. You know what that means? College prep...aka studying for entrance exams, selecting colleges, and a whole bunch of other stressful stuff. In the past five years of high school (not including this year), I spent my days clueless about the path I’m gonna take starting college. I didn’t have a dream job, a dream course, a dream college even. Every time a year passes, I told myself that I had time. I didn’t need to panic. Except it’s hard to not panic when you feel the pressure. Plus I’m Asian, of COURSE I’m gonna feel the pressure.
When my fourth year of high school ended, I went to take a business-based academic track for my last two years. Did I want it? Not really. Why did I take it though? I thought of it as a backup plan. I didn’t have anything planned for my future yet, and I needed to look like I had one fast. I realized that one of the most successful and accepted careers in my country involves business. You either start your own business or be employed in a business company. I saw it as a safe option. So if I ever decide to choose a different career path, at least I have basic business knowledge put aside.
One year into the business track, I decided that working in a company definitely isn’t for me. Sure I enjoyed some of the discussions in class and learned a whole lot of useful business knowledge, but it’s not something that I see myself doing in the future. My panic increased in power. I have only one year left to decide, and I still have to prepare for college entrance exams. Then something unexpected happened: a pandemic.
[The pandemic involving COVID-19 is very dangerous and sad. I do not take lightly everything bad that has happened due to the virus.]
Because of the need to put the country under quarantine, the school year 2019-2020 was abruptly ended, and the school year 2020-2021 was delayed for a few months. The school year ended in the middle of the stressful end-of-the-year hell month, so when I heard about the order to stay home, I saw it as a sign to take a break. And for a few months, I did take a break. I did absolutely nothing that’s considered productive, unless you consider baking sweets as productive.
Just last month, I suddenly started to feel the pressure again. I still have nothing planned for the future. Then I thought, “Why not take a career test?”
So I did. I took a LOT of the free ones online. There were inconsistent results from each test, but this test in particular was what enlightened me. This website called Career Explorer examines you thoroughly and gives you helpful results. You have to pay to view the full results report though, which kinda sucks a bit.
Then I got the results, and things got so much clearer.
I became excited. After doing some research about the job, I realized that it’s totally my match. I started downloading and printing textbook files I find online, and also taking free online workshops and courses related to it. I exhaled out of relief. I finally found a path.
I understand that finding the right path is very difficult. I’m not even in my 20s yet and I’m already being pressured to choose what I should do for the rest of my life. What I wish to say to the readers of this blog if there are any is that your questions will be answered. When? No one knows. Only time will tell. I hope that my posts will give hope to those who feel lost in their search for the right path. It will be fine.